March 10 was a heartbreaking day for the Lipscomb men’s basketball team.
After being projected by every major bracketologist to be in the NCAA tournament, the Bisons saw their dreams fade in a 74-68 loss to Liberty in the ASUN championship game.
Even worse, the defeat came in front of a record Allen Arena crowd of 5,687.
But the Bisons refused to fold despite the disappointment. Instead, they delivered a thrilling NIT run that ended with an 81-66 championship loss to Texas in New York Thursday night.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t play better, but the only thing to be sad about is this team doesn’t have any more days together,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “But we have to finish it up, because we maxed out pretty well.”
The Bisons played five NIT games and won four of them. Garrison Mathews, undoubtedly the team’s star, put on several unforgettable performances and averaged 26 points per NIT contest. The final two games came in Madison Square Garden on primetime television.
It’s hard to ask for much more, other than, say, an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
“They’re as good as any team we’ve played this year,” UNCG coach Wes Miller said following his team’s 86-69 loss to Lipscomb March 23. “Wofford is a great basketball team, and Lipscomb is on that level – they should be in the NCAA tournament. And I think they’d be winning games in the NCAA tournament.”
But not everyone is a believer. Senior forward Rob Marberry and his purple-clad teammates were mistaken for TCU players at a New York Starbucks earlier this week.
Later, in a show of complete disrespect, one reporter said she hadn’t even heard of Lipscomb in the Wichita State postgame press conference.
“The results speak for themselves,” Alexander said. “The last [two] years we’ve played in the NCAA Tournament and the finals of the NIT. The more often we do that, the less people will ask, and that’s about all we can control.”
The Bisons played five nationally-televised postseason games, which put the team’s brand on millions of screens. There’s no doubt the exposure from the NIT could go a long way in helping shake stupid questions from casual observers.
“Any time that a team is playing in late March and early April, it’s a pretty big deal,” Marberry said after beating Wichita State 71-64 Tuesday. “I think people can finally see that Lipscomb is a basketball school now.”
Lipscomb’s NIT quest began with an 89-81 comeback victory at Davidson March 19. The Bisons followed that win with the drubbing of UNCG on ESPN four days later.
The madness reached its peak when Mathews dropped 44 points to upset NC State March 27. His performance came in the face of 5,500 hostile Wolfpack fans at historic Reynolds Coliseum, but in typical fashion, Mathews played off the energy and even stared down the NC State student section late in the game.
That meant a trip to the Big Apple, and hundreds of Lipscomb supporters followed. If there was any lingering disappointment from the ASUN title loss, the fans that scrambled for plane tickets and New York accommodations didn’t show it.
“We had like a sea of purple come in all at once, and I was pretty shocked about it,” Marberry said. “It was kind of disappointing after the Liberty loss, but [the fans] are as resilient as we are coming back and cheering us on for these last games.”
Perhaps it was fitting that Lipscomb maximized its historic season while its two senior leaders maximized their talents. Mathews and Marberry came to Lipscomb as unheralded recruits but leave as pro-ready players.
Mathews finished with 2,480 career points, shattered numerous school records and might have played himself into an NBA opportunity. Marberry racked up 1,448 career points and served as the focal point of the team’s offense in the low post, dishing out 199 career assists.
Both players will eventually find their names on plaques along Allen Arena’s western concourse, where the school keeps its Athletics Hall of Fame.
“What they did elevated the rest of [the team],” Alexander said. “It wasn’t a two-man show. Our team collectively did a lot of really nice things. [But] we’re not going to be as good without those two guys on [the offensive end] of the floor.”
Lipscomb finished 29-8 overall, won 14 road games, received AP votes for the first time in school history and beat four top-100 KenPom.com squads to reach the NIT championship.
Not bad for a team that could’ve easily made March 10 its last day of meaningful basketball.
Photos by Erin Franklin